Member of the Scientific Council (Human Science Section) of the Max Planck Society

Member of DFG Researcher Consortium: Sociality and Health in Primates (SoHaPi)

Research Interest

Together with my co-PI Dr. Catherine Crockford and my research group, I investigate the costs and benefits of group living and close social bonds in wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and other non-human primates, in particular bonobos (Pan paniscus), chacma baboons (Papio ursinus) and sooty mangabeys (Cercocebus atys). We examine the underpinning hormonal mechanisms and cognitive adaptations that lead to higher net-benefits and how this translates into life history. We want to understand how individuals benefit from close social bonds and how these bonds affect cooperation, prosocial behaviour and theory of mind.

The ultimate goal of our research is to better understand the evolution of human social organization, cooperation, cognition, culture and communication within an ecological framework by investigating the roots of these adaptations in humans’ closest living relatives.

Comparative approach

To reach our goal we compare chimpanzees with other primates on six different levels:

Comparing between four neighboring groups in chimpanzees (Taï, Côte d’Ivoire)

We are habituating a fourth neighboring group in Tai and follow all of them every day, collecting focal animal behavior, group composition data, feeding data, vocalizations, GPS track logs and health data.